Google Analytics is one of the most powerful – and free – tools available today for publishers. At some point, the below mentioned metrics will be a pain point for publishers, therefore, really understanding your business’s baseline is crucial to monitoring your performance. If something falls below the usual value (at least two weeks of data) then it indicates a problem and that you should take action.

So what metrics should publishers be keeping an eye on in 2020 aside from the usual PageViews, Bounce Rate, Sessions, etc.?

1. Source

One of the easiest and most important metrics to find and measure: source; in other words, where your website traffic originated from.

To find this, click Acquisition, then Overview, and you can see which sources are giving you the most traffic.

2. PageViews vs. Unique PageViews

PageViews are pretty straightforward. Google Analytics takes into account Unique Page Views, meaning how many times a single user visited a single page. If the user visited the same page multiple times, it is a good indicator that your content is valuable to them.

Click on Behavior, then Site Content, then All Pages.

3. Entrances

These are the number of PageViews for the first page a visitor “lands on” when visiting your website (using the Insights on Google Analytics), i.e. it is the number of time that a particular page was the first page viewed by any visitor. This feature is available under Google Analytics’s Insights.

For example, a visitor enters your site and navigates to two pages. Google analytics will report as follows:

Page A: Entrances= 1, Pageviews= 1 and sessions=1

Page B: Entrances=0, Pageviews=1, sessions=0.

Page B does not have an entrance as it was not the first page visited during the session.

*This should not be confused with an Entrance Page or Landing Page.

4. Devices

Today, it is crucial to build a website that is responsive and user friendly across all devices. But knowing the percentage of users per device type will give you an advantage since you can optimize the experience leveraging each device’s unique features to create an enhanced experience for the user.

Click on Audience, then Mobile, then Overview.

5. Landing Pages

In this context, we are not talking about pages intended to turn visitors into leads. In Google Analytics terms, it means the first page someone visits on your website – similar to Entrance Pages. It is important to identify the best performing pages to make sure visitors are getting a good experience and to optimize the page that is generating the most traffic.

To get there, click on Behavior, then Site Content, then Landing Pages.

6. Locations

By looking at the demographics, you can identify the countries and regions where your website gets most of its visitors. In addition to being able to analyze the total traffic and traffic share % from each country, you can compare each country’s visitors behavior in terms of pages/visit, average visit duration, and bounce rate to identify which regional markets interact the most with your content. You definitely don’t want to miss out on any untapped potential!

To find it, click on Audience, then Geo, then Location.

Want to make even more sense of your heaps of data? Klangoo created an Editorial-Specific Analytics dashboard based on the in-depth data Magnet collects to offer an in-depth topical analysis of audience collective interests, your publishing stats, and ROI based on categories and names. Check out Magnet® Smart Analytics.